THERE'LL ALWAYS BE AN . . . THE MORALS OF THE BRITISH 
HAVE ALWAYS INTRIGUED AND BAFFLED FOREIGNERS . FOR CENTURIES, EUROPEANS VISITING 
THAT COLD, CONTROLLED COUNTRY HAVE DISCOVERED TO THEIR AMAZEMENT AND FREQUENT 
ENVY THAT THE ABUNDANCE, SUBTLETY AND VARIETY OF SEXUAL SPORT IN 
LONDON'S DEMIMONDE MAKE CONTINENTAL CAPITALS SEEM PAROCHIAL . UNTIL RECENT YEARS, 
IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO GO TO DINNER AT LONDON'S MOST FASHIONABLE 
CLUBS OR PRIVATE HOUSES WITHOUT PASSING SWARMS OF WELL-TURNED-OUT AND SOMETIMES 
HANDSOME STREETWALKERS STANDING GUARD ON THE SIDEWALK . LIKE MANY ANOTHER 
FOREIGN ANALYST OF ANGLO-SAXON ATTITUDES, FRENCH DIARIST HIPPOLYTE TAINE, VISITING LONDON 
IN THE MID 19TH CENTURY, COULD NOT COMPREHEND HOW THE ENGLISH 
COULD SUSTAIN THE " VEHEMENCE AND PUNGENCY OF THEIR PASSIONS " 
AGAINST " THE HARSH, THOUGH SILENT, GRINDING OF THEIR MORAL MACHINERY 
. " THERE IS A WIDESPREAD FEELING THAT BRITAIN'S MORAL MACHINERY 
IS NOT GRINDING AS HARSHLY AS IT USED TO . MUCH 
IN ENGLISH LIFE TODAY SUGGESTS DECADENCE AND DISSOLUTION . SINCE THE 
GIRLS WERE DRIVEN OFF THE STREETS FOUR YEARS AGO, THEY HAVE 
TAKEN TO ADVERTISING THEIR SERVICES IN SHOP WINDOWS AS " MASSEUSES, 
" / MODELS, " OR " FRENCH TEACHERS . " LONDON'S 
BOOMING STRIPTEASE PARLORS OFFER SOME OF THE CRUDEST LIVE PORNOGRAPHY TO 
BE SEEN PUBLICLY IN EUROPE . ITS PARKS IN SUMMER ARE 
PRE-EMPTED BY COUPLES WHO AREN'T JUST NECKING . ONE THIRD OF 
ALL TEEN-AGE BRIDES IN BRITAIN ARE ALREADY PREGNANT . INNUMERABLE SCANDALS 
PRECEDING THE PROFUMO CASE SUGGEST CONSIDERABLE PROMISCUITY, ALONG WITH SEXUAL ARRANGEMENTS 
INFINITELY MORE COMPLEX THAN THE OLD-FASHIONED TRIANGLE . AND, AS EVERYONE 
KNOWS, HOMOSEXUALITY IS " THE ENGLISH VICE . " PSYCHOLOGIST G 
. M . CARSTAIRS COMMENTED RECENTLY : " POPULAR MORALITY IS 
NOW A WASTELAND, LITTERED WITH THE DEBRIS OF BROKEN CONVENTIONS . 
CONCEPTS SUCH AS HONOR, OR EVEN HONESTY, HAVE AN OLD-FASHIONED SOUND, 
BUT NOTHING HAS TAKEN THEIR PLACE . " GETTING CAUGHT . 
THIS HARSH JUDGMENT MAY OVERLOOK THE FACT THAT BRITAIN WAS NEVER 
THE SORT OF PLACE VICTORIAN MORALITY PRETENDED IT WAS . IF 
LONDON TODAY RESEMBLES BABYLON-ON-THAMES, IT IS LITTLE MORE THAN A DE 
LUXE MODEL OF THE BRUTAL, CARNAL 18TH CENTURY CITY WHOSE BROTHELS, 
BOUDOIRS AND GIN SHOPS ( " DRUNK FOR A PENNY, DEAD 
DRUNK FOR TUPPENCE " ) WERE PICTURED BY HOGARTH, RICHARDSON AND 
FIELDING . SAYS MALCOLM MUGGERIDGE : " THERE'S ALWAYS BEEN A 
LOT OF HIGH-GRADE WHORING IN THIS COUNTRY, " AND THERE IS 
A LOT OF PAST EVIDENCE TO PROVE HIM RIGHT . GEORGE 
IV HAD HIS QUEEN TRIED PUBLICLY FOR INFIDELITY ; IN THE 
EARLY 18TH CENTURY, AN ARCHBISHOP OF YORK MAINTAINED A HAREM AT 
HIS PALACE . THE 18TH CENTURY CHRISTINE KEELER WAS A MISS 
CHUDLEIGH, WHO HAD BEEN THE MISTRESS OF THREE PEERS WHEN GEORGE 
II SPOTTED HER AT A COSTUME BALL, CUNNINGLY DISGUISED IN A 
TRANSPARENT GOWN . HER GEORGIAN ERA CAME BETWEEN TWO NOBLE MARRIAGES 
(ONE BIGAMOUS) . IN THE 18TH CENTURY PHRASE, BORROWED FROM NAUTICAL 
TERMINOLOGY, MISS CHUDLEIGH HAD " BOTTOM, " OR WHAT IT TAKES 
. INDEED, THE BRITISH RESERVE A SPECIAL ORDER OF VENERY FOR 
DISTINGUISHED DOXIES SUCH AS EMMA HAMILTON, THE ONETIME STREETWALKER WHO FOR 
YEARS WAS CIVILLY SHARED BY HER AMBASSADOR HUSBAND, SIR WILLIAM, AND 
ADMIRAL LORD NELSON, THE FATHER OF HER DAUGHTER . ONE OF 
THE MOST SUCCESSFUL OF ALL HIGH-SOCIETY HUSTLERS WAS HARRIETTE WILSON, A 
REGENCY BEAUTY WHOSE GUEST REGISTER WOULD HAVE READ LIKE BURKE'S PEERAGE 
; WHEN SHE STARTED PUBLISHING HER MEMOIRS, SHE MANAGED TO COLLECT 
DOUBLE DIVIDENDS FROM MANY FORMER PATRONS WHO PREFERRED NOT TO BE 
IMMORTALIZED . BUT NOT THE IRON DUKE OF WELLINGTON, WHO, WHEN 
TOLD BY HARRIETTE THAT SHE PLANNED TO CHRONICLE HIS INDISCRETIONS, ROARED 
: " PUBLISH AND BE DAMNED ! " SHE DID . 
SINCE THE MID-19TH CENTURY, SIN FOR A POLITICIAN HAS MEANT GETTING 
CAUGHT AT IT . AT LEAST THREE OFFICIALLY VIRTUOUS PRIME MINISTERS, 
LORD PALMERSTON, ARTHUR BALFOUR AND LLOYD GEORGE, WERE INVETERATE ADULTERERS . 
THUS THE STATE OF SEXUAL MORALITY IN BRITAIN TODAY IS PROBABLY 
NO WORSE THAN IT EVER WAS, AND THERE IS MUCH EVIDENCE 
THAT IT IS BETTER . BRITAIN MAY NOT BE A MORAL 
WASTELAND BUT A BATTLEGROUND IN WHICH A MORE REALISTIC, LESS HYPOCRITICAL 
GENERATION IS ATTEMPTING TO WIN LEGAL AND SOCIAL RECOGNITION OF THE 
FACTS OF EVERYDAY LIFE . SPARING THE HORSES . WITH THE 
LOSS OF EMPIRE AND THE DECLINE OF THE CHURCH AS AN 
INFLUENCE IN SOCIETY, BRITONS HAVE TEMPERED THEIR OLD MORAL CERTITUDES . 
AUTHOR JAMES MORRIS FEARS THAT HIS COMPATRIOTS ARE BECOMING " CONGENITALLY 
INCAPABLE OF DISREGARDING THE OPPOSITE POINT OF VIEW, ARE CONSTANTLY GROUPING 
TOWARD SOME GENERAL SYNTHESIS OF EVERYBODY'S POINT OF VIEW ON EVERYTHING 
. " BUT THE STIR CREATED BY THE PROFUMO CASE SUGGESTS 
THAT THERE IS STILL A LOT OF POWER LEFT IN THE 
" MORAL MACHINERY . " WHAT HAS REALLY CHANGED IN BRITAIN 
ARE MATTERS OF STYLE AND OUTLOOK, OF CLASS AND ECONOMIC STRUCTURE 
. FORNICATION HAS ALWAYS SEEMED MORE SPECTACULAR IN THE UPPER AND 
LOWER REACHES OF SOCIETY . BUT NOW, SAYS D . W 
. BROGAN, " IT MAY WELL BE THAT THE MIDDLE CLASSES 
ARE TAKING UP THE VICES OF THEIR BETTERS AND ALSO OF 
THEIR INFERIORS . " IF THERE IS NO LONGER REAL POVERTY 
IN BRITAIN, THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY HAS BEEN EVEN KINDER TO THE 
NEW-RICH . IT IS AT THIS LEVEL THAT LIFE IN BRITAIN 
OFTEN SEEMS TASTELESS, AIMLESS AND IMMORAL . A NEW TWIST TO 
A VICTORIAN MUSIC HALL BALLAD " IT'S THE RICH WOT GETS 
THE PLEASHOOR, IT'S THE POOR WOT GETS THE BLYME " WAS 
ADDED RECENTLY BY MINISTER OF HOUSING SIR KEITH JOSEPH, WHO SAID 
EARNESTLY : " IT IS HARDER FOR THE RICH OR THE 
RELATIVELY SECURE TO BE PURE . " AND YET TOO MUCH 
CAN BE BLAMED ON ECONOMIC FACTORS, LEADING TO WHAT THE ECONOMIST 
CALLS " THE UNTENABLE IMPLICATION THAT ADULTERY WOULD HAVE BEEN LESS 
RAMPANT IF ONLY THE COUNTRY HAD BEEN DECENT ENOUGH TO STAY 
POOR . " DECENCY IS OFTEN A QUESTION OF STYLE . 
MANY BRITONS FEEL THAT THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG, OR AT LEAST 
NEW, IN A CABINET MINISTER HAVING A MISTRESS . BUT THERE 
IS A SLIGHTLY SNOBBISH FEELING THAT CHRISTINE KEELER AND HER SET 
REALLY WERE A BIT TOO CASUAL . ALTHOUGH IN BRITAIN THE 
OFFICIAL MISTRESS HAS NEVER QUITE REACHED THE GLITTERING STATUS SHE HAS 
IN FRANCE, THE GREAT AND SMALL AFFAIRS OF THE PAST WERE 
MORE LIKELY TO BE QUIET, SETTLED, NEAR-PERMANENT ARRANGEMENTS . A NEW 
FACTOR, SAYS DAILY MAIL COLUMNIST ANNE SCOTT-JAMES, IS THE " SLEAZINESS 
OF THE CROWD WITH WHICH THE WAR MINISTER MIXED . " 
SAYS MUGGERIDGE : " FIFTY YEARS AGO PEOPLE WOULD HAVE GONE 
TO MAIDA VALE AND PATRONIZED ONE OF THE GRANDES COCOTTES . 
IF THERE IS ANYTHING NEW IN THIS, IT IS THE OVERLAPPING 
OF THE SOCIAL LIFE OF CLIVEDEN AND OF WARD . " 
IN SHORT, BRITAIN MAY BE IN DANGER OF ABANDONING ACTRESS MRS 
. PAT CAMPBELL'S CELEBRATED AXIOM ABOUT EDWARDIAN LONDON : " YOU 
CAN DO ANYTHING YOU PLEASE HERE, SO LONG AS YOU DON'T 
DO IT ON THE STREET AND FRIGHTEN THE HORSES . / 
